Villanova Basketball Team Won’t Visit White House To Celebrate NCAA Title

The Villanova basketball program is the latest championship team that has decided to skip out on a White House visit to celebrate their national title. According to a report from USA Today Sports, the Wildcats have decided against visiting the White House after their second championship in three seasons.

Villanova visited the Barack Obama White House after winning the 2016 NCAA Tournament.

The Wildcats become the basketball team to skip out on a visit to the Donald Trump occupied White House, following in the footsteps of the 2017 North Carolina men’s basketball team, the two-time NBA champion Golden State Warriors, and the 2017 South Carolina women’s basketball team. The WNBA champion Minnesota Lynx and Seattle Storm were never invited.

But to be clear, Villanova head coach Jay Wright said that the decision to skip the White House visit was more of a logistics issue than a statement against Trump.

“If one were to come at this point, we probably wouldn’t be able to get everybody together,” Wright said. “We’ve lost staff members, we’ve lost players (to the NBA). Two years ago it was the experience of a lifetime for all of us. It’s just a different time and I understand it. So it is what it is.”

That means all eight basketball champions to claim a title during the Trump administration have not visited the nation’s capital.

The Wildcats will kick off their 2018-19 campaign ranked No. 9 in the nation when they face off against the Morgan State Bears on Tuesday, November 6 at The Pavilion. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.